My new love!

TURKEY BOWLING!! I have never done this before. Heck, I've never even heard of turkey bowling before this week. But I love it! It was pretty freaking awesome! I'm so gonna do this again!

Mychael tossing her turkey

And it's a hit!

It didn't last long because we realized that the turkeys were leaving green marks on the floor from their plastic wrappings and we had to stop and make sure that the marks could come off. Luckily someone ran home and got some Magic Erasers and the marks came off magically (hehe, I couldn't help myself :) ). I also got a whole pizza to take home because there weren't many people there and we had lots of pizza leftover. Basically, I had a blast!

Missionary Farewells

Two of my good friends, Marcia Coats and Kayley Davis, entered the MTC today. I was lucky enough that their farewells were on different weeks so I could go to both of them. I love these girls so much! They are both amazing and have been there for me when I needed them. I'll miss them both, but I can't tell you how proud I am of them choosing this difficult, but worthwhile path.

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of Marcia's farewell

Left to right: Brook, Laura, Marcia, Me, Michelle

I remembered my camera for Kayley's farewell and her mom was nice enough to take lots of pictures for me.

Al, Kayley, and me after Kayley's talk

Later that day, we had a photo session where we acted like ourselves - crazy!

Don't you just love us?

A normal one, who'd thought that was possible? Not me, that's for sure!

Poor Kayley!

Al is always attacking her and I have to step in to save the day

I told you we are crazy.... crazy awesome that is :)

I just love this one! It's probably my favorite.

It shows off just how we act when we're together!

Mom comes to Utah

As she does multiple times a year, but this time was different. She came to Utah just to visit ME! I was so stoked that everyone I saw or talked to on the phone this week heard about my Mommy coming to town. The best part was that she had no reason for coming to visit other than that she missed me and I invited her to come (technically, I invited both Mom and Dad, but poor Dad had to stay in Cali and do bishopy stuff. Mom came without him anyway!).

She drove up on Friday, skipping work to get here sooner (which made me even more giddy). I was able to get all of my homework done before she drove up. I was getting in my car to go to Walmart for a Halloween costume, literally as she drove up the street. Luckily I saw her before I drove away and quickly jumped in her car instead and away we went! I was able to find a cute costume at Walmart that I needed to wear to the Trunk-or-Treat that the Institute was putting on that night. I quickly changed, allowed Mom to take my picture (she has it on her camera, so no picture for you, sorry), and away I went. Mom visited Janet while I was fulfilling my crazy calling at the Trunk-or-Treat. When I got home we stayed up talking till way late.

Saturday, we got up and went back to Walmart for cereal (apparently it's half the price here than in Cali). On our way out of the parking lot we got stopped by SHEEP! Again with the sheep! Mom was so excited that she pulled the car over, jumped out and started snapping pictures. Then when the sheep were out of the way, she proceeded to follow them down the road to get close up pictures (isn't my mom awesome?!). Again Mom has those pictures, but imagine hundreds of sheep just moseying down the road. It's pretty epic.

Once Mom had stocked up, we headed to the SUU vs. UCDavis football game - which amazingly enough, we won!

Look at how happy we are!

We won!!

I had to document it cuz it doesn't happen often

The rest of Saturday was spent shopping. That night we went out to dinner with Cindy and Becca (she had gone down to St George to visit friends and stayed the night with us). Again Mom and I stayed up way too late talking :) She left early Sunday morning for home. It was awesome to have Mommy come! I have been so busy with school and Institute Council stuff that I haven't had a moment's peace. Her visit was very muchly needed! Thanks for coming Mom!! Love ya!!

It's a race! And I'm winning!!

Too bad the sheep got in the way....

The sheep parade shut down Main Street, I was one of the silly ones stuck behind the parade.

I tried to get around them by taking a detour - the detour didn't work too well when the road took me back to Main Street.

So many sheep, so little time....

DI Dance

What better way is there to keep DI in business than to have a DI dance? That's what the Institute Council thought and why we decked ourselves in the dorkiest clothes we could find at DI, decorated the gym in a Napoleon Dynamite fashion, and invited the whole Institute to join in!

Decorations!

Putting up the DI logo - with toilet paper

Our photo op spot

This place was always full of people! It was the hit of the dance. And we had a "Best Dressed" contest, which also was a hit.

Sofia and I at the dance with our awesome outfits!

I know I'm blinking, but I wanted you to see all of my "sweater" (that's what DI labeled it as, but it didn't do a very good job of keeping me warm). Isn't that just too awesome?! The color strips are ribbons woven through the netting and to top it off, the ribbons were unraveling all throughout the dance. People kept coming up to me and telling me how much they liked it. It helped that I had bright green pants and an interesting belt to match. All-in-all, it was a great dance and lots of people showed up. I'm sad I don't have any more pictures! Next time I'll channel my inner "Mom", and take way too many ;)

Kayley and Al come to visit!!!

Since Kayley is leaving on her mission November 11 (to Orlando, Fl), this was pretty much the last time she had a chance to come down to Cedar to visit. Al, of course, joined in the fun and came with her. I was too freaking excited for them to come!! I love them both and I miss having them around.

The weekend was full of fun, laughter, excitement, and much partying. We gave it a theme, cuz we could :) "Party like it's your birthday", it's our song. Al has it as the playback song on her phone for when I call her. I love it! Sometimes I call her just to hear it. The only pictures that were taken were on Friday, when we had our party.

Kayley danced to the music we had blaring

Al made CAKE!!

And I was just hyper :D

Seriously, this girl can cook! I love her food. And I am in the process of craving more of her delicious chocolate cake!

Action shot!

She's making icing for the cake. See why I love her?!!

We were on a sugar rush after all that cake, M&M's, popcorn, and soda. We stayed up way too late talking, catching up, and watching a chick flick. The party rocked! Then Saturday we spent with Anna and Tyler (Al's old roommate and husband) watching conference and stuffing ourselves with even more yummy goodness made by Al. She cooked pancakes, eggs, and hashbrowns, with some help from all of us. Sunday we went to Sis Heath's house for the first session of conference and lunch. I love the Heath's, they are some of the coolest people! We played games after conference while lunch was cooking. Then we ate some amazing steaks and chatted the Heath's ears off with all our stories.

Sadly the time came for Kayley and Al to leave. They stayed long enough to clean up and leave me some surprises around the house. All weekend Kayley had colored Disney pictures and they had pictures of themselves which they put up all over the place. Those pictures make my day every time I see them! I loved having Kayley and Al here. I can't wait for Kayley's farewell cuz I get to see them again!! It's gonna rock!!!

Daddy - Daughter Date

I love Daddy-Daughter dates!!!! Daddy and I haven't spent a lot of time together since I went off to college, so it was great to get to spend time with him!

Two weeks ago the family had tickets to go see Scarlet Pimpernel in Salt Lake. I drove up from Cedar and since everyone else was off at Education Week, work, or visiting in-laws, I was in charge of picking Daddy up from the airport. His flight came in at 10am, the musical didn't start till 4, and with everyone busy doing other things, Dad and I decided to stay up in the Salt Lake area and tour the sites.

We went to Gardner Village that was settled by our ancestors, Archibald and Robert Gardner Jr. (We come through Robert and his third wife). It was awesome to see some of the things that were still standing 150 years later. Dad was disappointed that none of the stores had any souvenir type things. We had to ask if they had any books about the Gardners and they only had one tiny little book. Daddy bought it for me anyway :) It would have been cool if they had little replicas of the mill and silo that Robert and Archibald built that has since been transformed into a restaurant/store. We would have been all over that!

We walked all through the mill turned store - taking little notice of the things for sell - to find the hidden original workings that were still there. Dad took a lot of pictures with his phone of them. I wish I had taken some, but I was having too much fun wondering around and looking. One of the store clerks we talked to (can you believe that Dad and I actually talked to someone!??!) said that they have to dust everyday because there was still flour dust that would settle on the furniture.

After we got tired of walking around the village and seeing all the stores (I think Dad tired of it sooner than I did, there were a lot of stores!), we headed to the Archibald Restaurant for lunch. They turned the silo into the restaurant, where they have 11 booths - one dedicated to each of Archibald's 11 wives. While we waited for our food, Dad quizzed me on my knowledge of the story of how Robert Gardner Sr. and family ended up in Canada and then America. I didn't know as much as Dad thought I should have. Then we had to have a discussion as to who's fault that was ;) Luckily the food came just as Dad agreed with me that it was his fault (love ya Daddy!). The food there was really good! I'd definitely eat there again and you should go too. When we were done eating we took one last look around Gardner Village and headed out on the next adventure.

Here's some pictures of the Village:

The waterwheel that's still spinning - I'd think it would get dizzy or something

Daddy with the wheel

My turn!

Everything there was wet and it felt as though it never really got a chance to dry out from the water being splashed constantly. That didn't stop us!

Action shot!

The sign to Archibald's Restaurant with the yummy food

I really like the way this one turned out. I couldn't really see what I was taking a picture of, so I'm doubly impressed with the coolness of it!

Robert and Archibald laid those stones 150 years ago to direct the river to their mill and they haven't had to touch them since. That's how good we Gardners build things!

Pretty picture of the rest of the river

Around Gardner Village

More around the village, but this time with random people in it. Yeah Random People!

An outhouse that most likely was never used as a real outhouse. It's tiny and way too close to the building

The river is in the back of this picture with benches near by to sit and enjoy the view

We left Gardner Village and headed to This Is The Place Monument because Becca had free tickets to it that she gave us. We ended up not using the tickets because they were for the things in the little town next to the monument and I was ready to be done with walking by the time we were done seeing the monument and statutes that we decided to save them for someone else to use. This Is The Place was interesting to see. I'm not too sure I'd ever go out of my way to go there again, but Dad and I had fun. We wondered around seeing all the different statutes and reading all the plaques. Again there was a history quiz for me that I was unprepared for - I need to remember to study up on my history before going on a Daddy-Daughter Date again!

This is my favorite picture that I have ever taken - we're not counting all my favorites that actually have people in them, those ones trump this one, but I really like this picture!

When we were done seeing the statutes, Dad and I headed to the theater. There was still an hour or so to burn before the musical, but we were done being in the 90 degree heat so we decided to find something close to the theater that was inside to do. Apparently there's a movie theater with an arcade-like-thing in the building next door to the Hale Family Theater. Dad bought me a soda and we just sat inside and talked until it was time for the musical.

As you can tell by this really long post, I completely enjoyed my Daddy-Daughter Date. I've missed talking to Dad on that personal of a level, it's hard to have a really good, deep conversation when there's 10 other people in the house vying for his attention. I was able to open up and express ideas and opinions that I never would have done in any other situation. It was refreshing to say some of those things and have someone actually listen and take me seriously. As the 6th kid out of 8, it's hard sometimes to feel as though I have a voice with the other, usually louder, voices in the family. That is why I treasure any one-on-one time that I get with my parents. It's at those times that I get to show them the person I've become and the things I have accomplished. It's also when I get to see how deeply they love me and how proud they are to be my parents. Those are the things that help me get through any trial that is thrown at me.